Christmas dawned on a snowy morning.  It had snowed quite a bit over night and had left everything in a thick layer of snow.  The sun slowly rose sending rays of sunlight into room all over the place of cubs sleeping blissfully.  Dreams filled with them ripping open gifts left for them by Santa Clause.
It was the same for the Artic fox brothers.  Both boys slept happily in their beds awaiting the morning.  Last night both boys felt they could hardly sleep a wink for their excitement.  But they had dropped off asleep finally after the 3rd or 4th warning from their mother.
Their mother woke early and shivered a bit exiting her bed and stepping onto the cold floor.  Wrapping a gown around herself she slid her paws into her slippers and padded out of her room to check on the boys.
The smell of breakfast was the thing that woke the older of the boys up.  The smell of bacon, eggs and French toast filled the house nudging them out of their sleep.  Samaliel was the first up and woke his brother Pent as soon as his groggy mind cleared up.
“Pent!  Pent!  Wake up!  It’s Christmas!”  he says happily tugging on his brothers covers.
His brother sat up rubbing the sleep out of his eyes trying to wake up.  
“W-hat?” he asks, followed by a long yawn.
“It’s Christmas silly!”  his brother says rolling his eyes.
“Christmas!”  Pent yips excitedly finally waking up.
Pent jumped out of bed and followed his brother out of their room and towards the living room.  Both cubs arrived to the living room and gasped at the array of colorful packages.  It seemed to both boys that there were piles upon piles of presents.
The boys ran into the kitchen and found their mother cooking up a Christmas breakfast.  Eggs, bacon, orange juice and loads of pancakes.  On the table was syrup, whipped cream and even cherries to place on their pancakes.
“Oh, I see you two sleepy heads are up finally!”  Their mother chuckles when she see’s them come in.
“Good morning mom!”  Pent yips happily.
“Good morning and Merry Christmas!”  She replies.
“Merry Christmas!” the brothers bark back.
“Breakfast is almost ready.  Pent, help your brother set the table for me.”  She says going back to the pancakes.
“Yes ma’am!”  Pent replies.  
He helps Samaliel out by holding the plates as he takes them down since he was taller.  The boys set the table and just as they placed the final fork and knife their mother removed the last pancake from the pan.  
To their delight the pancakes had been cooked to look like snowmen.  The batter had also been filled with multi colored chocolate bits.  This gave them a festive green white and red speckle to match the date.
The pups eagerly ate their breakfast, excited for the meal.  But also knowing that after eating and cleaning up they would finally get to open up their gifts.  With that in mind both boys wolfed down their breakfast at breakneck speed.
This earned them admonishment from their mother.  She scolded them about “actually tasting” the breakfast.  Both boys giggled and promised her that they had.  She merely rolls her eyes with a fake huff allowing them to finish at their own pace.
“Ok you two.  Put your plates in the sink.  Then we can open up gifts.”  She says once they finish.
The boys happily jump up and put their plates in the sink before charging into the living room where all their gifts lay under the tree.  The boys resist the urge to charge into the pile of gifts and start ripping them all open.  Both go to their favorite places and wait for their mother to enter.
“Ok, who’s ready to open up gifts?”  Their mother asks entering the living room.
Both cubs happily wag their tails looking at their mother excitedly.  Their mother takes up her place by the tree.  Both scoot closer at the edge of their seats as she began pulling the gifts out from under the tree.
“Ok, how should we do this.  Oldest to youngest?  Or youngest to oldest?”  She asks.
“I think Pent should go first.”  Samaliel replies to Pent and their mother surprise.
“Well, that’s very thoughtful of you!”  She replies approvingly.  “Youngest to oldest it is then!”
It really didn’t matter though.  Each were given their gifts one by one.  Once all the gifts had been handed out both cubs began opening theirs one at a time.  Samaliel opened his gifts at a slower pace than Pent, as if he was trying to display his older age.  Pent however had no such qualms.
One by one Pent eagerly opens his gifts.  It was a good haul this year!  Santa (or his mom) seemed to have checked nearly everything off of his list! 
He received a book on local birds, something he had mentioned wanting the last time they visited a book store.  Along with that was a new pair of binoculars to help with his bird hunting.  
He also received a new microscope, something he had been pestering his mother for since his birthday!  He wasn’t sure what all he could see with it but that didn’t stop him.  He couldn’t wait to give it a try!  Along with those larger gifts he also received the normal boring gifts like clothes.  
Samaliel also was quite happy with his own gifts.  He got a few British joke books, along with some DVD’s of his favorite British TV shows.  Best of all was the “The largest and driest book of wit.”  He was going to enjoy reading through it.
The presents were all finally given out but Samaliel had a surprise himself.  He gave his mother a wink who retuned it.  He got up as Pent was distracted to go get his own gift for his little brother.
Pent had been very interested in Samaliel’s hockey team.  Watching him play games he wanted to join in and play with him.  He had even taken to stealing his uniforms so he could try to look like him.  Sadly, the shirts were much too big for him.  
He had been able to convince his coach to have a special one made just for Pent.   Not only was it the perfect size for his little bro, it even had his own number and even his name written across the back.
He had been keeping it hidden for a long time now.  Even going so far as to wrapping it up nearly a month in advance.  He enters his mother’s room to find the gift.   He finds it where his mother had told him to look and pulled it out and returned to the living room.
Pent was where he had been left.  Still pouring over the information on the back of his new microscope. He only looks up when their mother nudges him and points to Samaliel. 
“What do you have behind your back?”  Pent asks curiously.
“Just a little something that I had made especially for you.”  Samaliel replies proudly and hands over the gift to Pent.
The little cub gasps excitedly at getting yet another gift.  He eagerly accepts the gift and unwraps it quickly.  He opens the box and gasps with delight when he finds the brand-new Hockey Jersey inside. 
“Oh my gosh!  Is this your team’s jersey!?”  He asks excitedly pulling the jersey out.
“Not just that, look on the back!”  He replies proudly.
Pent turns it around and finds his own name written on the back.  He gasps and jumps up and gives Samaliel a big hug.  He gasps a bit as he is hugged tightly by his younger brother.
“Thanks so much!  This is so cool!  Its like I’m part of the team now!”  Pent yips happily.
“You’d think that was his only gift!”  Their mother remarks with a laugh.
“Thank you too mom!”  Pent giggles and returns to give her a hug too.  
“OOF!  Thank you Pent!  You can let go now, I can hardly breath!”  She laughs hugging him back.
Samaliel laughed a bit as his brother let their mother go.  Pent eagerly pulled his new jersey on as his older bother gave their mother a hug as well.  
“Thanks mom.”  He smiled.
“Not a problem.  I’m always happy to see me two young men happy.”  She smiles.
Now that the presents were all unwrapped the two boys helped their mother gather up all the spent wrapping paper.  Gathering up their things they took their gifts to their bedroom and rejoined their mother in the living room.
When they got back into the living room their mother had mugs of hot coco for them to drink.  The little family all got together and spent the rest of the day watching Christmas movies.  The boys tried out their gifts and Pent even used his microscope to look at the crumbs of his dinner.
Like all good things the day felt much too short when night finally fell across their home.  The boys were both sent to bed and tomorrow would be a new yet boring day.  It would soon be a new year and the count down began until the next Christmas.